Former Facebook phone maker INQ to launch personalized news app in the next few weeks

Last time we talked about INQ, they were releasing their social apps to Android Market (now Google Play). Before that, we’ve seen their Cloud Touch smartphone being picked up by few carriers, but the project didn’t succeeded as they planned. So they dumped the hardware business and are rather focusing all the energy on making apps and services.

The first result of this effort could be released in the next few weeks and it will be called Material. Described as a personalized news app/service, it goes through your social networking profiles to show you the news people in your social circles care about. Since few other services already offer similar capabilities, INQ is differentiating its engine by making it smarter than competing solutions. It does that by following news stories you read and delivering related information. For instance, if it detects that you’re following sports news related to one team, it will push those news to you whether anyone from your social networks talk about them or not. Moreover, it will also know when off-season starts to calm-down with the number of articles it pushes towards you.

When it comes to design, Material is described as “quite polished” app with its design “bursting with color and beautiful photos.” This is definitely something that could also help INQ get customers/readers on board.

We certainly think this is an interesting market and we’ll keep following what smart companies are doing here. Material will debut on Android in the next few weeks, with iOS launch following few months later. Can’t wait to give it a try…